Strathisla 1953-2010 - Gordon & MacPhail

One of the greatest of the Speyside distilleries, Strathisla distillery’s whisky is equally at home in sherry or bourbon casks but is not heavily marketed as a single malt, as its spirit is a crucial ingredient in owner Pernod Ricard’s portfolio of blended whiskies. The only official bottlings released are the standard 12-year-old and a series of single cask bottlings available only at the group’s distillery visitor centres.

Thankfully, Gordon & MacPhail have long been a licensed bottler of Strathisla and hold a very considerable stock of Strathisla casks dating back decades. G&M have bottled a remarkable number of superb Strathislas, from the extraordinary 1937 vintage bottles through to the recent 65-year-old Strathisla 1953. At auction, away from the famous vintages and long-aged sherrybombs, mid-aged Strathislas from Gordon & MacPhail are generally excellent value.

Founded in Elgin as a merchant grocer and wine and spirits wholesaler in 1895, Gordon & MacPhail are one of the oldest independent whisky bottlers in Scotland. Co-founder James Gordon owned shares in Longmorn, Strathisla and Glen Grant, and Gordon & MacPhail were soon bottling officially licensed single malts from several distilleries and sending empty casks from their wine business to be filled with new make spirit and returned for maturation in their Elgin warehouses.

Gordon & MacPhail pioneered high strength single malts at 100 proof (57%) in the 1950s, and in 1968 the company launched Connoisseurs Choice, one of the first integrated ranges of small batch independent whisky bottlings. After finally becoming distillers themselves with the purchase of Benromach in 1993, in 2010 Gordon & MacPhail bottled the first 70-year-old single malt whisky (a Mortlach 1938) and in 2020 the company released the first ever 80-year-old whisky: Glenlivet 1940.